Day 1 of testimony: Informant tells of murder-for-hire talk

Recordings of the wiretap placed in Lance Greenawalt's jail cell will be played for jurors on Wednesday

CARLISLE -- After hearing his cellmate talk constantly about killing an Adams County judge, Timothy Bryce said he grew nervous.

If Lance Greenawalt found someone else willing to kill the judge, Bryce said it would have been on his conscience, he testified in court Tuesday.

Bryce said he became a police informant in September 2010 after he contacted a shift lieutenant at the State Correctional Institute at Camp Hill and told authorities of Greenawalt's plot to have Adams County President Judge Michael George killed.

George sentenced Greenawalt, 47, in April 2010 for burglary and theft charges and denied his post-conviction petition.

"Mr. Greenawalt thought killing George would facilitate his early release from prison," Bryce said during his nearly hour-long testimony in Cumberland County Court for the first day of Greenawalt's jury trial. "He felt Judge George was involved in a scheme cooked up by police, prosecutors and witnesses."

Twelve jurors and two alternates listened Tuesday to testimony from Bryce and Benjamin Wilson, the Pennsylvania state trooper who led the investigation of Greenawalt, who is facing one charge of solicitation to commit murder.

A nonconsensual wiretap was installed in Greenawalt's jail cell, which he shared with Bryce, in September 2010, and approximately 20 hours of conversations between the two men were recorded over a three-day period, Wilson said.

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Wilson was questioned by Greenawalt's legal counsel, Harrisburg attorney Michael Rentschler, regarding Bryce's criminal history, which includes at least a half-dozen charges — including false statements and obstruction of justice — in four states.

"I knew he had a criminal history because he was in jail, but I didn't know to what extent," Wilson said. "His criminal past led me to substantiate what he had told me."

Matthew Smith, chief deputy district attorney for Cumberland County, said jurors would need to identify the difference between jailhouse talk and solicitation of murder during his opening remarks on Tuesday.

Greenawalt initially denied his plot to kill George when he was confronted by investigators, Smith said. But when he found out about the wiretap, he changed his story, saying he had been kidding when he was talking about his plan.

The jury will hear three hours of recorded conversations Greenawalt had with Bryce in jail when the trial resumes at 9:30 on Wednesday morning, said Kevin Hess, Cumberland County judge presiding over the case.

Also scheduled to testify is Judge George, said Brian Sinnett, assistant district attorney for Adams County who is prosecuting the case with Smith.

"You will hear Bryce's testimony," Smith said. "But you don't have to believe Bryce. You have to believe the defendant's own words."

Greenawalt is serving a 30- to 70-year prison term at the Camp Hill jail for another failed murder-for-hire plot where he tried to hire Bryce to kill two Adams County brothers, Daniel Keys and John Lloyd. Greenawalt was also serving time for assaulting Daniel Keys in April 2006.

Initially brought to court together, the two murder-for-hire cases were severed after a judge felt it was too prejudicial to try them together, Smith said.

Mark Walters covers Adams County for The Evening Sun. Contact him at 717-637-3736 ext. 147.